Blue Jays pass up opportunity for a new closer- How come?

It’s assumed that the Blue Jays will add a back-end arm to their bullpen mix, but they passed on the chance to acquire Brad Hand. Why would they do that?

I fully expected that some or even most MLB teams would be operating with a tighter budget for the 2021 campaign, but so far the off-season is off to an ice-cold start for the players, and free agency hasn’t even begun yet.

I say that because this week saw many veterans being shown the door by their 2020 clubs, whether by not exercising a contract option for next season, or just choosing to release them outright. In some cases it was fairly expected, such as the Blue Jays cutting Chase Anderson loose rather than paying his 9.5 million dollar salary for next season, but there were a few surprises. And in one particular case, I’m surprised the Blue Jays didn’t take advantage.

The fact that Brad Hand was put on waivers by Cleveland this week should give us an idea of where the free agent market is going to go this winter, even if they’ve been trying to slash payroll for a few years even before the pandemic took their ticket revenue in 2020. That explains why Cleveland wanted to shed Hand’s 10 million dollar salary ahead of next season (sort of?), but I’m truly shocked by what I read in an article from the Associated Press yesterday.

More from Jays Journal

• Matt Chapman has been exactly what the Blue Jays needed
• Blue Jays: The goalposts are moving in the right direction
• Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays advance to the Championship Series
• Blue Jays: Comparisons for Alek Manoah’s Second Season
• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King

According to Cleveland’s current president, they tried to shop the 3x All-Star closer and couldn’t find a taker. This after the 30-year-old posted a 2.05 ERA with a 0.773 WHIP across 22 innings this year, saving 16 games the process. I’ve read a few things about there being concerning signs in his advanced metrics, but the numbers don’t lie. Hand was very effective in 2020, and he’s exactly the type of arm the Blue Jays should be interested in adding to the fold ahead of next season. So, why not jump on the opportunity?

There could be multiple reasons, but my guess is that it tells us two things about the Blue Jays’ plans going forward. One, I’m guessing they feel pretty good about Jordan Romano and/or Rafael Dolis pitching at the back of the ‘pen going forward, and that’s fair enough. But secondly and more importantly, I’m guessing it means that Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro are anticipating an ice-cold market, and perhaps even a better opportunity.

It’s hard to imagine right now, but maybe a guy like Hand won’t be able to get 10 million in 2021 on the free agent market. A year ago a pitcher with his track record could all be guaranteed a multi-year pact for eight figures plus annually, but that was before this season was cut down to 60 games, and played without fans in the stands. We’re already seeing teams looking to cut payroll, and there’s a chance that trades could be made for pennies on the dollar. I’m not sitting in any meetings with Atkins and his team, but my guess is they’d like to see what other opportunities develop before committing 10 million to Hand. Who knows, maybe they’d prefer to pay him that rate on a multi-year commitment, and perhaps that can now happen.

The Blue Jays have also done well with rolling the dice on relief arms over the last few years, and I suspect they’ll look to do the same again this winter. For example, they received excellent production from guys like Anthony Bass and A.J. Cole on very inexpensive deals, and I’m sure that’s a strategy that ownership is in favour of. I do think they’ll add at least one veteran reliever to the group though, and ideally that would be someone with eighth and ninth inning experience.

That said, the way the market is developing, there could be more options than I would have guessed a while ago. I wouldn’t have expected an elite reliever like Hand to released (or for the same to happen to Roberto Osuna for that matter, but he’s not coming back), but here we are. It’s going to be an interesting off-season.